3544quebec

Received my brand spanking new Diamond Accor Plus card along with a welcome letter stating:

We are honoured to welcome you as a Diamond member and enclose your new membership card. Plus, there's a special little something we reserve exclusively for our Diamond members.

Is the special little something an empty envelope?

kaizen7

Extra small apple?

Jasper2009

Not just small, but imaginary.

Jasper2009

Maybe the "little surprise" is the excitement some people may get out of searching for something that isn't there?

Just like the 4x25 Euros dining certs Diamond members were promised, but never received.

Although, I seem to recall Diamond members receiving a small note pad, or was it a small wallet? Paging @CanadaDH...

CanadaDH

I did receive a light grey-coloured Diamond membership card in the mail. I think I might have received a small passport holder, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. That could have been before Diamond was introduced. If there was anything else sent along with that, it certainly wasn't very memorable.

The only tangible benefit of Diamond, was the 100 Euros in dining certificates that were never provided. Otherwise, it's the same as Platinum. I suppose if you want to really get picky, another advantage of Diamond is that if you fail to requalify, you will soft-land to Platinum, which gives basically the same benefits as Diamond. So, consider reaching Diamond to equal 2 years of Platinum without needing to requalify.

Dogmatick

Am about to also Qualify for Diamond and cannot truly see the point of its existence other than to signal to the Hotel that you are that little bit more special. The only Platinum gift I ever found use for were the bluetooth headphones until they glitched into Chinese and a day later the right speaker stopped working - then they were E waste.... I tell a lie, my wife uses the keyring because it carries her Oyster card (metro card) that she never uses and could just tap her phone for instead !
Oh don't you get more unusable suite night upgrades ? I've still not managed to use one as the hotels I go to always say "but sir we always give you a suite anyway why use it" or " sorry none available"

Jasper2009

I agree that Diamond benefits are rather weak (especially given the spending requirement!). That being said, there are some decent benefits:

1) Complimentary breakfast on weekends can be a useful perk, especially for those mainly travelling for leisure / mainly taking weekend trips (of course the "weekend restriction" is rather petty)
2) When dealing wih hotel management regarding client stays, Diamond status certainly has been a factor when negotiating deals.
3) At some hotels SNUs are completely useless, while at others there are some spectacular opportunities (incl. upgrades from ~Junior Suites to specialty suites that would otherwise cost several thousand dollars a night). Having to call Accor each time to enquire about SNU rates / eligible rooms/suites is a huge PITA, but there are some great opportunities if you look for them...

CanadaDH

I would only need half the fingers on one hand to count the number of times I've used the free Diamond breakfast since it was first introduced, and my travels are exclusively for leisure. I'm normally gone for a week or more at a time, so only 2 of every 7 days would potentially qualify. And most of the time, I'm either booking on Fairmont Gold, or some suite that comes with breakfast anyway at that particular hotel. I suppose for some travel patterns, it might be worth something.

For the SNUs, I don't really consider them a Diamond benefit. They're a Platinum benefit, and the more points you earn, the more SNUs you receive. If they were to remove the Diamond tier completely, or double the points requirement to receive it, the SNUs earned would still be the same.

Good to know about negotiating better deals. My only experience since Diamond was introduced, is as a Diamond member. So if I've managed to get better upgrades because of it, then that's a good benefit, although it's difficult to measure without seeing how non-Diamonds make out when booking at the same properties. Booking for a variety of clients, you would be in a unique position to see those differences .

3544quebec

Unless you are breakfasting at a certain Mercure overlooking Brisbane where I was presented a bill to sign for breakfast and upon telling them that I was a Diamond member , the response was "only Platinums get free breakfast" They had never heard of this status called Diamond but they did accept it when I told them I was that little bit more special than Platinum.

Dogmatick

That's brilliant and I'm sure swelled a bit of deserved pride as well, though is again only the same as Platinum no?

DutchFlyer80

I received a "wollen Italian" scarf in my box/envelope.

kaizen7

I manage to reach Diamond from my last Raffles Bali stay.

Will let everyone know what size of apple I got

3544quebec

Here's hoping that you get the apple with the golden worm

JTCz

It must have been a rather gruesome accident, and we are very sorry to hear of it